Chinwendu Obienyi
The transaction volume on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) declined by 3.9 per cent on resumption of trading Monday. With the bourse recording a 5.3 per cent gain last week, there was optimism that stocks would start would open stronger on the opening day, but that never happened due to EndFSARSprotests by Nigerian Youths against the activities of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, (SARS), brought some uncertainty in the market despite the announcement by the Presidency that it had disbanded the police unit.
Consequently, sell-offs ensued in the shares of MTNN, BUA Cement and Flourmill, driving the market’s index down 0.27 per cent to close at 28,337.49 points.This was even as market capitalisation fell N41 billion to close at N14.811 trillion while year-to-date (ytd) return worsened to 5.6 per cent. Investor’ sentiment turned negative as 15 stocks depreciated in value while 13 others appreciated. International Breweries topped the losers’ chart with 9.11 per cent to close at N4.29 per share, followed by Mansard with 5.67 per cent to close at N1.83, Flourmill dropped 4.55 per cent to close at N21, Regal Insurance fell by 4.35 per cent to close at 0.22 kobo while Port Paints dipped by 3.55 per cent to close at N2.15. On the other hand, Eterna led the gainers’ chart with 9.92 per cent to close at N3.99 per share.
